


more than make-believe

by beifongbltch



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: ATLA WLW Week 2020, F/F, Hurt/Comfort (sort of), non-binary mai, the inherent homoeroticism of falling in love with your ex's imaginary friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:02:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26621092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beifongbltch/pseuds/beifongbltch
Summary: your childhood imaginary friend never stops following you. in fact, they take on a new job: checking in on your loved ones when they need you.suki finds herself oddly entranced by the figure that keeps showing up in her doorway.
Relationships: Mai & Ty Lee (Avatar), Mai/Suki (Avatar), Suki/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 43
Collections: AtLA WLW week 2020





	more than make-believe

Suki should probably move on. Ty Lee made it very clear that she’s not coming back. It’s been a week since she ran out the door, screaming that she never wanted to see Suki again. It’s also been a week since Suki has actually gotten out of bed.

She thought Ty Lee just needed to cool off. That she’d come back in a few days, ready to talk through the petty argument they got into. But she didn’t. She left town. She left Suki all alone, with nothing but the house they’d been sharing for months.

“Who the spirits are you?” Suki jumps up, finally feeling her legs for the first time in days. She’s too fast, though, and plummets straight to the floor.

“I’m Mai,” the figure in the doorway steps forward.

“I don’t care! Leave before I kill you.”

“You can’t.” The light hits Mai, weaving its way through their silky black hair.

_ Spirits, they are gorgeous _ . Suki almost stares before catching herself. 

“Are you challenging me?” Suki readies herself for a fight, but when she leaps forward, she only hits air. 

_ What? This can’t be right. _ Suki swings again, watching her arm go right through Mai. She tries a third time, nothing changes. One more time, _that’ll work._

“Are you quite done?” Mai stands unchanged. “You’re invading my personal space.”

Suki ponders for a moment. _What is this person?_ _They can’t be a spirit, no. Spirits can touch you, can’t they? But this can’t be a human, or is it? Wouldn’t they-_

“What are you?” Suki blurts out before she can stop herself.

“Ty Lee misses you.”

Suki feels her knees buckle, knocking her back onto her bed. This must be some elaborate scheme. How Ty Lee pulled it off, Suki can’t begin to imagine. But she knows it’s all a part of some fantastical plot.  _ So much for never seeing me again, right? _

But this can’t be a prank, can it? How would that even work? Ty Lee is many things, but a magical being that can make people’s hands go through other people is not one of those things. Hopefully.

“I’m stuck here until she forgets about you.” Mai sighs, sitting down next to Suki.  _ How does that work?  _

“How?” Suki’s head is racing.

“She left me here. I have to--” Mai begins to fade away. “I’ll be back.”

\--

Suki gets herself to leave the house. How could she not when she has so many questions? She takes herself to the little bookshop in the middle of town. The world feels different without Ty Lee by her side. It almost makes her turn back, retreat home where nothing else can hurt her. 

She steadies herself before going inside. What if someone asks questions? What if they want to know where her bubbly little girlfriend is today? Her fist clenches around the door handle, forcing her inside before she can run away.

Ru looks up from his counter, the bookstore owner who Suki isn't quite sure she's seen anywhere else.

“What can I get for ya?” He rises from his seat.

“Well…” Suki tries to choose her words carefully. “Do you know about spirits being attached to someone? And they visit the people they think about?”

Ru turns to the shelf behind him and thumbs through the books at rapid speed. A green cover, looking like it might be older than time itself, flies into his hands. 

Suki reaches in her pocket, fishing around for a few silver pieces.

“Don’t worry about it.” Ru slides the book across the counter. “You’ve got something very special.”

Suki can’t wait a moment longer to read about  _ whatever it is  _ that’s happening to her. She flies through the pages as she walks home, much to the dismay of everyone around her. Especially the old lady she walked directly into.

But what she finds makes her head go in circles. It’s not normal. At least, it shouldn’t be. 

This Mai person is, sort of mystical? An abandoned imaginary friend. Legend says they latch on to the loved ones of their creator, delivering messages in hopes that one day they’ll be remembered. Apparently that’s the day they’ll become real.

\--

Mai appears in the doorway again a few days later.

“She wishes she had slapped you before she left.”

“How pleasant of her.” Suki turns to look over her shoulder. She’s actually at her desk doing work today. Sometimes she forgets how much paperwork goes into leading the Kyoshi Warriors.

“She wants to tell you that she wishes you’d never met.”

“Can you tell her something from me?” Suki has half a mind to even ask.

Mai shakes their head firmly.  _ That’s probably for the best _ , Suki tells herself. She doesn’t know what she’d even say, but she does know that it would be embarrassing at the very least.

Mai continues to stand there, blank expression unchanging. Suki gives them a puzzled look. They’ve said what they needed to say, aren’t they supposed to leave now?

“She’s still thinking about you. For your sake, I’ll spare the details.” Mai takes a seat on the floor, almost at Suki’s feet. 

Suki catches herself getting lost in their eyes. Eyes that say so much, yet nothing at all. Suki wonders what their story is. When did Ty Lee make them up? What games did the two of them play together?

Before Suki can ask, they disappear.

\--

Suki practices her forms alone. She can’t bring herself to call the girls to a meeting yet. If she does, she’ll have to face the fact that Ty Lee isn’t there. And she won’t be there ever again.

Practicing takes her mind off of it, though. Her fans glide through the air and slice in front of her and she feels like she’s at home again. This has always been home.

Mai watches from the corner.

“I see what she meant about watching you fight.” 

The sound of their voice startles Suki, almost knocking her off balance. And she even knew they were sitting there. She wants to ask what Ty Lee is thinking, but stops herself. If it’s any good, Mai will tell her, _right?_

“She’s remembering the last time you two sparred,” Mai explains after a prolonged moment of silence. “She’s so right about how good you look.”

Suki feels a blush creeping onto her face and she turns her head sharply, hoping that Mai doesn’t notice. _What would happen if they did notice? Do they hate me like Ty Lee does?_

She returns to her forms, weaving through the space around her. Her fans swing in front of her, coming down at all the perfect angles. She feels ‘in the zone’ again. Maybe she doesn’t need Ty Lee.

“She wants to give you this.” Mai holds out a firelily. “It reminded her of you.”

“Sh-she’s back in the Fire Nation already?”

Suki knew she was leaving Kyoshi Island, but she never thought Ty Lee would’ve gone that far already. Omashu was the furthest she had imagined. Maybe that was wishful thinking.

Mai places the flower into Suki’s hands and begins to fade away. Suki wishes her ex-girlfriend would think about her for longer.

\--

Mai shows up a few times each week. Suki waits in anticipation every time. Some days, Mai shows up when Suki is practicing with the Kyoshi Warriors. Others, they find Suki on the beach, sitting and thinking about what she’s going to do next.

It goes in cycles. One week, Ty Lee wants Suki to know how awful she is, and how much better Ty Lee is without her. The next, Ty Lee misses her so much and can barely go on. It’s almost torturous, having to hear every single thing her ex-girlfriend thinks about her. But she never dreads seeing Mai.

Actually, she looks forward to it. Every time Mai appears, Suki hopes they’ll stay longer. Or that they’ll tell her about their life as a person that doesn’t actually exist. She finds herself scooting in a little closer each time, hoping that one day Mai will be there for real.

\--

“Where do you go when you aren’t here?” Suki asks one night when Mai shows up in her room, right as she’s about to fall asleep.

“Sometimes I go visit other people she’s thinking about. Usually they don’t see me.” Mai lies down and Suki really wishes she could touch them.

“Are you lonely?” Suki turns onto her side, barely any distance between her face and Mai’s.

“I am sometimes. I wait for her to think of you, though.”

Suki’s heart races. Her cheeks heat up. This can’t be real.

“Can I kiss you?”

Mai only shakes their head.  _ Of course I can’t kiss them _ . Suki tells herself.  _ They aren’t even real. _

But they  _ feel _ real. Suki wishes that were enough.

\--

Mai begins to show up less. _Ty Lee is forgetting_. Soon weekly meetings turn monthly, and Suki wishes it weren’t true. 

“Promise me you won’t stop coming,” she begs.  _ Mai can’t stop. They can’t. They have to keep showing up. _

“I cannot promise that,” they say with tears behind their eyes. “But I can promise that we’ll meet again.”

\--

“Ty Lee will remember me one day. And that day, I’ll run to you.”

\--

Months pass without Mai appearing. Suki thinks she sees them in passing hallways sometimes. Some days she even sees them in her reflection.

She tells herself that one day, Ty Lee will remember. One day, Mai will be more than make-believe.

One day, Suki will be able to reach out and touch them, like she’s been longing to do for months.

But she knows, in her heart of hearts, that it’s all pretend.

**Author's Note:**

> here's my light angst for day 4 of wlw week! check me out on tumblr @lesbiankya if you'd like :) ((this is based on a tik tok i saw but I cannot find it anywhere))


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